I found there are 2 things a small business can copy from Service Magic to get more reviews. The first ask multiple times… or at least once. The second is to make it smoother. You see when a person goes to review a business on Service Magic they are already signed up, so they don’t need to make up a password or download anything or stand on their head. Their in… it’s smooth.

Small businesses often know/ask for their customer’s email addresses, now use it to make it easier for the customer to review you. If they have a yahoo email, they already belong to Yahoo; if they have gmail they already have a Google account. Send them a link to the review site of which you know they already belong – Smooooth.

On the lighter side: I spent my vacation in part reading Seth Godin books, which is why I’m using the term smooth. And I couldn’t help but think his cover photo resembled an athletic african-american.

Now, those of you who know what Mr. Godin looks like think I’m crazy… so I’m going to prove it to you. Here is Seth Godin side by side with David Justice – retired baseball player.

The reviews on service magic are really interesting to me too… they are solicited by service magic and not the customer, so they may be more relevant but to my knowledge are not fed into any other local engine.

So, my job now is to figure out how to “amplify” them. Which I will probably do by adding a link to the reviews from the testimonial page on the site.

[...] And finally, here’s a headsmacker: if your customer has an obvious email address, such as @Gmail,com or @Yahoo.com, ask them to review your business using that particular engine. They won’t have to sign up for a new account and they’ll likely already be comfortable with the review interface (Tim Coleman, Convert Offline). [...]

My husband and I hired Jimmy Montgomery from SM. He was professional, courtous, completed the job within the time frame provded and the quality of craftsmanship was seen. I will hire Jim again and recommend him to all we know.

Service Magic does not work well for home improvement contractors. They charge per lead that has not be qualified and the charge too much. I spent over 350.00 with them and not one job. So I cancelled there service and was going to try something new. The called and bribed and begged me to give them another chance. The gave me 10 free leads. What the did not tell me is that after the 10 leads they would start charging my credit card with informing me. When I caught them on this they were unwilling to credit me only give me more free leads. Why would I want more of something that does not work. So do not trust Service Magic

Service Magic lists a flooring installer in Ft. Collins, Colorado called JR Flooring and Design. Service Magic refuses to post a bad rating from me for this company despite the fact that JR Flooring incorrectly installed an expensive Cali Bamboo floor in my home. The floor has completely failed and this has been fully documented by a certified licensed independent inspector. The owners of the company have so far refused to fix the floor and are instead blaming others for the errors.
I will not use this company or Service Magic again.

[...] And finally, hereâ€™s a headsmacker: if your customer has an obvious email address, such as @Gmail,com or @Yahoo.com, ask them to review your business using that particular engine. They wonâ€™t have to sign up for a new account and theyâ€™ll likely already be comfortable with the review interface. [...]

[...] And finally, hereâ€™s a headsmacker: if your customer has an obvious email address, such as @Gmail,com or @Yahoo.com, ask them to review your business using that particular engine. They wonâ€™t have to sign up for a new account and theyâ€™ll likelyalready be comfortable with the review interface. [...]

[...] And finally, hereâ€™s a headsmacker: if your customer has an obvious email address, such as @Gmail,com or @Yahoo.com, ask them to review your business using that particular engine. They wonâ€™t have to sign up for a new account and theyâ€™ll likely already be comfortable with the review interface. [...]

Great article. We are in the beginning phase of developing an online review strategy and have talked about a number of ideas discussed here. For what it’s worth, service magic has proven to be effective in serving its purpose–connecting homeowners with local contractors. However, it is still the responsibility of the contractor to sell the job, do excellent work, and provide great customer service. We use this service regularly and have found success.

Great point. Service Magic has a billion dollar message to share with all who utilize the service. If you step back and take a look at what they are doing, there are many things we can do for our trades businesses to be more successful. At FPN, we have adopted some of their strong points and dropped the problems to create the ultimate service pro marketing platform.

I was a memeber of service magic, the biggest issue I have had with them is that I worked with a customer who I could not please, I returned to his home 8 times and work on the items, every time we would fix one thing, and spend hours doing so he would then call back and say something else is wrong, I catered to him to the point I made no money on the job, 2 months later he goes on service magic and post a bad review, it is the first thing all my new potential leads get to see, it cancels out the other 14 perfect reviews that I have, and there is nothing I can do about it, I spend over $400 a month. SO now I do not spend that and I am looking for another way to spend that money on advertising.